We had the pleasure of seeing new London pop punk band Youths play their first proper show a few weeks ago when they opened for Red City Radio at the New Cross Inn. The four piece, who consist of Max (guitar and vocals), Boz (drums), Phil (guitar) and Martin (bass), are a group of friends who are on the best side of thirty who decided to get together and play a style different to their usual genre of hardcore punk rock. In July, they released their debut EP Drip Fed. After being impressed by their live performance, I was looking forward to seeing what Youths are like on record.
Up first is the EP's title track Drip Fed. The track crashes into life immediately, seemingly slowing down in its build to Max's vocals. The vocals are, as you might expect from a pop punk band, clean and slick without much hint of the gruff. This makes the song instantly accessible to anyone listening for the first time. Drip Fed is about all of the false news stories that appear all over the internet, in particular on social media, and how easy it is to believe these stories. To add some intensity to the track, some gang vocals are added towards the end of the song as the band shout their message with some passion.
The second of the three songs is named The Ones You Need. On my first listen of the track, I felt a huge Menzingers and PUP vibe. The song starts with a guitar riff that could easily be found on the next Menzingers album when it's released. When the vocals come in, they are delivered in a wonderfully punchy way that really grabs your attention and has me wanting to sing along from the get go. They also have you wanting to listen to every single word and keen to really learn the meaning of the song. I took the song as being about the world turning into a horrible place and making sure that you have plenty of people around you who make it better. The ending of the track is a big highlight of the entire EP. Again the gang vocals come in but, rather than the intense shouting of the previous song, it's more of a melodic chant that should get a whole room singing along.
Last up is We Talk Of Travel When We're Drunk. The song is about those great nights down the pub, talking about your hopes and aspirations for the future. It's an uplifting and positive song about going for your dreams that will give you that get up and go feeling. The chorus in particular will inspire some folk, especially if you find yourself singing it with a group of friends who have similar dreams to yourself. This is the kind of pop punk track that I can see fitting perfectly into a teen movie montage from the 90s. I can already see a convertible car full of hot teenagers going on their summer road trip to find themselves. There you go Youths, there's the concept for the future music video for the song.
Drip Fed is a hugely impressive debut EP from Youths. These guys obviously have some pedigree from their previous bands which has helped with this release and it has me extremely excited to see where they go next. I don't think it will be long before I see them live again and am really looking forward to singing along to these songs.
Stream and download Drip Fed here: https://youthsuk.bandcamp.com/
Like Youths here: https://www.facebook.com/Youthsband/
This review was written by Colin Clark.
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